Small goals help propel Broughton boys lacrosse

With a 5-1 lead entering the second quarter, Broughton boys lacrosse coach Damian Hall didn’t want to see the team let up against host Enloe. He gave the Caps one minute to score their sixth goal of the game.

Fifty-one seconds into the second quarter, Broughton junior midfielder Hunter Keravuori pushed the score to 6-1.

“We said we want to score a certain amount of goals in a certain amount of time to make sure we’re starting fast, and we didn’t meet all of our goals today, so we’ll have to make sure we can play at a high level,” Hall said. “We have big aspirations and we want to make sure we’re playing at the best of our ability with playoff time right around the corner.”

Broughton followed a 18-6 win over Enloe Tuesday with Friday’s 17-3 win to remain undefeated in Conference 4 play.

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“We try to set goals of playing at our level. Enloe is a great program on the rise and (Eagles coach) Chase (Kaznowski) does a great job with these kids, but we try to focus on playing up at our level and not at the level of any opponent we may have, and that’s not a slight on Enloe by any means,” Hall said.

“They’re well-coached, they’ve got a lot of good young kids, but they’re a young team and we’re not anymore. We’re a pretty veteran team. Our starting midfield is all two and three-year starters, our starting defense is all three-year starters. We’ve got a lot of experience and a lot of depth.”

Broughton has dominated its conference since 2012, dropping just one league game — a one-point overtime loss to Millbrook — in the past two seasons.

Leesville Road has been a rising program in the area, making its first playoff appearance last year and cementing itself as Broughton’s prime conference competition. The Pride remained undefeated this year entering the week.

Due to a rainout last month, Broughton is scheduled to host Leesville Road April 21 and then travel to Leesville toad on April 23.

“That’s a team that’s pushed us the last couple times we’ve played them. It was only a one-goal victory the last time we played. ... It’s definitely a couple of matches we’re going to be fired up for and it’s going to be interesting to see how you kind of turn around with just a one-day turnaround and make adjustments,” Hall said.

“It’s almost like a really long halftime. We’re basically going to have to come up with two different game plans, so we’ll really be ready to match up with them, but we’ve got Heritage and Garner first so that’s our priority and making sure we play to the best of our abilities in those games.”